Chapter 87 Volume III - 8: The Fear Itself

Chapter 87 Volume III - Chapter 8: The Fear Itself

Although it was impossible for my mana reserves to be depleted by the 'training' I was doing, it didn't mean that my body could handle it. So I had to stop practicing inevitably after a while, and now I was lying on my bed to get some rest.

Practicing Ambiguous Flow was hard... much harder than I thought it would be.

~beep!

Well... it seems Lunerra doesn't want me to rest.

When I looked at the notification from my watch, what I saw on the screen was a message sent to me by Melany.

<<------------------------------

Melany: I've taken care of the meeting and two of the three families you asked me to talk to have responded positively. The third one hasn't written anything yet, but it looks like they're going to accept. Talks with the royal family have also yielded a positive response.

------------------------------>>

Reporting huh...

<<------------------------------

You: Well, if you have spoken to the royal family, the rest is not so important. They are things that will have an impact in the long run anyway, the third family will eventually respond. There is no chance they will refuse.

Melany: How can you be so sure about everything?

You: Because I know how much they hate the Malus Family, and that's not the point, just go ahead with the plan without hesitation. If there are any problems, let me know and we will try to solve them together. It will be enough if you don't act alone, I will do my part.

Melany: Then... may I ask how you plan to help my daughter?

------------------------------>>

I thought for a while before my hand went to the keyboard.

As a mother, it is natural for her to be curious. After all, one side of the deal is important for her daughter's future and I never told her how I was going to solve the statistics problem.

<<------------------------------

You: There is a time for everything, it is difficult for me to say anything right now because I don't have a single thing in mind. I know more than one solution, but I'm not sure which one will be the best, so just wait, I'll tell you when I find the most certain way. For now, good evening.

Melany: Okay...

------------------------------>>

So, without saying anything else, I closed my watch and buried my head in bed. The day wasn't even half over yet, but that mana exercise had pushed me a bit too hard. I wanted to rest and leave the rest of the work for tomorrow, hence I closed my eyes.

Silence descended on the room. I slowly let myself into the darkness behind my eyes.

Just when I thought I was going to sleep, I paused and felt a chill that made my whole body tremble slightly.

Something was wrong...

My eyebrows furrowed and I twisted slightly behind my still-closed eyes.

Normally this wouldn't happen. I felt differently... uneasy.

And just when I was thinking about it... I heard a voice.

A voice that sent shivers down my spine and echoed in my mind.

'Aiden...'

My eyes were wide open, I quickly got up from the bed and immediately grabbed my sword.

I couldn't see anything, there was no difference.

I was alone in my room.

But...

'Hehehe...'

A slight pressure on my shoulder made me literally jump in my place, and I reflexively swung my sword behind me.

When I turned around, I was met by a pair of purple eyes.

'Hey, Aiden! How's it going?

My sword had cut the space. Even though I felt him touching me just now, even though his body was standing in front of me quite clearly, even though my sword was inside his 'body', he was smiling and looking into my eyes as if nothing had happened.

'Come on... do you hate me that much?'

My sword slipped out of my hands, my legs gave way.

I was trembling. I was... scared, so scared that even though I had the Absolute Mind, the 'thing' in front of me seemed like a frightening creature, impossible to kill or even avoid.

He... was an exact copy of how I looked in my old life, except for his violet eyes.

'How ridiculous!'

The thing in front of me turned his smile into a mocking one.

I couldn't take my eyes off him, I tried to find a point to escape but I couldn't. I couldn't turn my head, I was locked in. The world had stopped spinning, time had even stopped.

'Do you ever fear yourself?'

He bent down, grabbed the collar of my clothes, and pulled me closer to him.

His violet eyes were penetrating me. The madness in his expression was as if he was pulling me into himself. He was digging fear deep into my heart, I couldn't think of anything else.

It was as if... he was fear itself.

<<------------------------------

???: %2,1 --> 2,2

------------------------------>>

'We are one, Aiden. I am what you are; you are what I am. You should be as afraid of yourself as you are of me. So... there is no reason to be afraid of me. On the contrary, together we can have a lot of fun in this world.'

He turned back to me, the madness in his eyes even wilder. His smile grew wider, almost reaching his ears.

<<------------------------------

???: %2,2 --> 2,3

------------------------------>>

He sighed, realizing that I couldn't answer him, that I was frozen in place.

He let go of my collar, turned around, and approached the curtain covering my window. He grabbed it hard, pulling it aside with a swift tug as if his intention was to tear it.

Sunlight filled the room, and the fantastic world beyond the window unfolded before us.

'This is a different place, we can do anything we want here. And you can't stay like this forever, you're smart enough to know what I mean.'

My mouth finally opened. Meaningless words spilled out of my lips before I could think, before I could understand what was happening. n0VeluSb.c0m

"I... I-"

There is no you, Aiden.'

His smile faded, a serious expression settled on his face and he approached my face. With every detail of his violet eyes in my field of vision, he spoke calmly, slowly, and in a whisper, in contrast to the expression on his face.

'There is us, us.'

~knock! ~knock! ~knock!

We both turned to the side at the sound that suddenly interrupted his speech. For a moment my eyes widened, they quickly turned back in front of me, but I remained frozen.

There was an empty space in front of me.

He was gone.

Not only that, my curtain was closed as if nothing had happened. Everything was in its place. Except for one thing, me.

~knock! ~knock! ~knock!

I swallowed, forced my body to stand up, and quickly threw myself into the bathroom sink to wash my face.

My body was still shaking, what had just happened was still in my mind. I could never forget that fear, that feeling, but I was already starting to calm down, my mind was clearing again. Absolute Mind, which had not been working until now, was activated again.

Still...

After another splash of cold water on my face, I took a deep breath in and out. Then I went to the door and looked out through the peephole. When I saw the person standing in front of my door, I couldn't help sighing.

Was her timing good or bad...?

I let out a deep, silent sigh.

I don't want to talk to anyone, I don't want to see anyone. I just... I just want to be alone for a while, to rest.

I'm... really scared.

I put a smile on my face anyway, maybe the best smile I could do in this situation, and so I opened the door.

"What did you want, Sue?"

Sue waited for a few seconds when she first saw me, a slightly puzzled look on her face, but then it disappeared as her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Are you okay?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your skin is pale, almost looks like you're dead... Are you okay?"

Ah...

"Uh, well, I was practicing a mana-related technique, and then things went a bit wrong. I guess my appearance is a side effect of that, it will get better soon."

She looked me up and down, sighing deeply when I slammed my left fist into my chest twice while she did so.

"Okay..."

"Anyway, what are you here for?"

"I've given my testimony and I don't think they're suspicious, it's just... your advice on traps they might ask about was very useful. I ran into a few and if you hadn't told me beforehand I might have gotten caught. I just wanted to say thank you."

"Got it, no more problems then."

So there was silence between us.

"I... I also came for..."

"For what?"

Sue raised the hand she had been holding down until now and showed me her tablet.

"You said before that if there was anything you didn't know, we could do it one-to-one..."

"Ah... true, I said that... but why did you come to me? It would have been better if you had gone to Lucia, to improve the relationship between you two and so on. "

I don't want her to be dependent on me. She is too grateful to me, she is too exalting me in her own eyes and that's not good. If she continues like this, she won't be able to do much on her own, she won't develop her social skills enough.

"I've already spoken to her. She apologized a lot and told me she was busy. She won't be available for the next month or so, and she might not even be able to come to group meetings."

What?

My eyebrows furrowed involuntarily, I was lost in thought.

Was there anything that happened around this time that would have kept Lucia busy? Hmm... I don't remember. Did something change in the story again without my knowledge, or...

"After her, you're the one who knows the theorems of mana the best..."

Sue's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, refocusing me on what was in front of me for now.

"Sure, no problem. I have the whole day off anyway and I don't want to train today after that... mana technique."

I stepped aside and welcomed Sue inside.

Sue walked in slowly, then suddenly paused. This, of course, took me by surprise.

"Is something wrong?"

I closed the door behind her, slowly approaching her as she stood in the doorway of the room.

"No, it's just... I didn't expect it to be so dark and I think something must have happened to your curtain?"

Curtain?

The curtain...?

My eyes widened, time stopped flowing for a moment and I stiffened where I was. The walls seemed to be closing in on me... but even then, I slowly turned my eyes toward the curtain.

There were marks on the curtain as if someone had squeezed it so hard that it almost shattered, and the marks were even red as if they had been bloodied.

Even though Sue couldn't see very well because of the darkness, I could.

Ah... I didn't realize it just now, but my right hand hurts too...

I raised my hand and slowly looked down at my palm, fearful thoughts flashing through my mind.

My right palm was red and bleeding as if I had gripped something tightly with it, as if I had driven my fingernails hard into it.